Practices You Can Do at the Stupa

8/12/2019 Practices You Can Do at the Stupa

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Practices You Can Do At The Stupa

Circumambulations

Stupas are the main holy objects in relation to which sentient beings accumulate merit. Thesutra teaching, Circumambulating the Stupa, says:

By circumambulating stupas, one avoids being born in the naraks, as a preta, an animal, a

barbarian, a long-lie god, a heretic, a ool, or in a place where Buddha has not descended.

!ne receives a deva or human body, and one has a long lie. !ne is not harmed by pretas,

cannibals or other creatures. "or hundreds o aeons one is not born blind, or crippled with

arthritis. By circumambulating stupas, one receives perect power and perseverance#

because there is no la$iness, one is able to develop the mind %uickly. !ne receives the si&

clairvoyances. !ne also becomes an arhat, having abandoned all delusion and possessing

great psychic power. "inally one achieves the golden holy body o Buddha, adorned with

the holy signs.

'any other beneits are mentioned in the Sutra o the Compassionate-eyed !ne and

(dvice to )ing Sengyal, which says:

* a person circumambulates with devotion a stupa or statue o Buddha, in his uture lives

his enemies will respect and surrender to him. +e will become a person o %uality,

respected by and pleasing to other people. The temporal and ultimate beneits are ininite.

Circumambulating is the supreme method to puriy obscurations and close the door to the

lower realms.

This te&t also adds:

(ny being who does one circumambulation o or one prostration to a stupa is liberatedcompletely rom the karma to be born in any o the levels o hell. !ne becomes a non-

returner, and achieves highest enlightenment.

*m sure you have oten heard the story o inpa elgye. inpa elgye was more than

eighty years old when he decided he wanted to become a monk# his amily had annoyed him

by making un o him, so he decided to join a monastery. +e went to a monastery but was not

accepted by the abbot, the arhat Shariputra, who said to him, /There are many things to

memori$e, and you are too old to do this. Besides, you dont have the karma to become a

monk.0

inpa elgye was very upset. 1eturning rom the monastery, he went into a park and cried

and cried. 2uru Shakyamuni Buddha, whose holy mind is constantly observing sentient

beings, immediately used his psychic power to appear there in the park. Buddha asked the oldman, /3hats wrong with you4 3hats happened to you40 inpa elgye e&plained everything.

Buddha then said, /5nlike Shariputra, * have completed the merits o both method and

wisdom. * can see that you do have the karma to become a monk.0

inpa elgye was given into the care o 'audgalyayana, one o Shakyamuni Buddhas

disciples, who had highly developed psychic powers. But again, the young monks in the

monastery made un o the old man. inpa elgye got completely ed up. !ne day, without

telling his teacher, he let the monastery to go to jump into the river. (ter praying, /Since *

cant live in a monastery in this lie in my ne&t lie, may * be able to live in a monastery rom

a very young age,0 the old man jumped into the river.

3ith his psychic powers, 'audgalyayana checked where the old man had gone. Seeing

that inpa elgye had jumped into the river, 'audgalyayana immediately appeared on the

river bank and grabbed him out o the water. The old man was so shocked and embarrassed

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that or a while he couldnt even speak. Then he e&plained everything to his teacher, who said

his behavior was due to not having generated renunciation o samsara.

'audgalyayana then asked inpa elgye to hold on to a corner o his robe. Together they

lew up into space and over an ocean in which there was a huge mountain o bones. They

landed on the mountain, and the old man asked, / 3hat is this40 'audgalyayana replied,

/These are the bones o one o the largest animals living in this ocean7this is one o your

previous incarnations.0 Suddenly inpa elgyes hair stood on end, and he generated

renunciation o samsara. 8ven though he began his 9harma practice only ater he was eighty

years o age, in that lie he became an arhat.

Buddha e&plained that inpa elgye had the karma to actuali$e the path through becoming

a monk and an arhat because long ago in one o his previous lives he had been a ly that

ollowed the smell o dung around a stupa. By ollowing the odour o the dung, the ly

circumambulated a holy object. 8ven when there is no virtuous motivation, any

circumambulation o a holy object becomes a virtuous action because o the power o the holy

object. *t is useul to remember that a stupa has this power.

( stupa illed with the our powerul mantras called /the relics o 9harmakaya0 is very

powerul. The wind that touches such a stupa and then touches animals or human beings,puriies their negative karma to be born in the lower realms. * the dust rom a stupa touches

beings, it also puriies them. Circumambulating holy objects puriies broken pratimoksha

vows, the ive uninterrupted negative karmas, all the karmas to be born in the naraks.

Circumambulating is a very powerul practice, and the very root o the practice is to

circumambulate with strong devotion, and with an undistracted mind. Since we need to

accumulate e&tensive merit in order to generate reali$ations and achieve enlightenment

%uickly, we should attempt to circumambulate as perectly as possible. Circumambulations

should be done with body, speech and mind. * your mind is distracted and you are gossiping

while you are circumambulating, there is no great beneit.

'ental circumambulation involves generating devotion by thinking again and again o the

%ualities o the object you are circumambulating, o the %ualities o the 2uru-Buddha. Speech

circumambulation involves reciting mantras and praises over and over again. ! the threetypes o circumambulation, the most important is the mental circumambulation, having

devotion in the mind. *t is the same with prostrations.

*n *ndia there were great siddhas who achieved reali$ations by circumambulating temples,

and ama (tisha and the )adampa 2eshes did many circumambulations o stupas. !nce

when ama (tisha was circumambulating, 9romtompa asked him, /3hy dont you rela&4

3hy not practise virtue while sitting4 3hy do you do this ordinary practice o

circumambulating40 ama (tisha replied, /;ou dont understand. ( circumambulation

contains all three actions o body, speech and mind. * you just sit and meditate, you have

only the one action o the mind meditating, with no virtuous actions o body or speech. *n

terms o creating virtue, there is no greater merit than that rom circumambulating.0

* think it would be very beneicial or anyone with a disease that is diicult to cure or

incurable, such as (*9S or cancer, to circumambulate a stupa several hundred times a day.This is my personal suggestion. Since the cause o disease is puriied in dependence upon

these holy objects, it has to have an eect on the disease.

Beore circumambulating, generate a strong motivation o bodhicitta. 1emember all the

suerings o all the beings in the si& realms, and eel that you are responsible or reeing them

rom their suerings: /* must achieve enlightenment or the sake o all the mother sentient

beings, thereore * am going to circumambulate.0 (s with prostrations, when you

circumambulate, think that you have maniested numberless bodies, either all your past lives

in human orm or in the orm o a deity. ;ou can think also that you are leading all sentient

beings in the circumambulation.

To multiply each circumambulation or prostration you do a thousand times, irst recite

once:


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Chom den de de $hin sheg pa dra chom pa yang dag par d$og pay sang gyay rin chen gyal

tsen la chag tsal lo.

Then recite seven times:

!m namo bhagawate ratna kitu rat$aya tathagataya arhate samyaksam buddhaya tayata om

ratne ratne maha ratne ratne vi$aya soha.

"or your irst circumambulation think, /*m going to circumambulate or all sentient

beings, particularly or all the narak beings.0 9edicate the merit you accumulate especially or

the narak beings, who have the greatest suering.

Think that the holy object you are circumambulating becomes empty. * there is no holy

object to circumambulate, you can visuali$e a yellow syllable DRUM, which transorms into

an e&tensive wish-granting tree in which all the reuge objects abide. 1emember that the

absolute nature o this holy object is the absolute nature o all holy objects everywhere. 8ven

though you may not be in hasa, 9haramsala or =epal, think that you are circumambulating

all the holy objects o the ten directions. 3ith this visuali$ation, which is mentioned in lam-

rim teachings, you receive the incredible beneit o circumambulating all these holy objects.

(lso remember that all the Buddhas and bodhisattvas are abiding in that holy object. ;ou

can visuali$e the stupa as a deity, and absorb all the Buddhas and bodhisattvas o the ten

directions into it. (s you circumambulate, meditate that the 2uru encompasses all Buddhas,

9harma and Sangha. ;ou can visuali$e Chenre$ig, >ajrasattva, =amgyalma or any deity you

wish and recite the mantra o that deity. (s you recite the mantra, nectar beams are emitted,

completely illuminating you and all the other sentient beings.

3hen you have completed one circumambulation, think that you have puriied all the

negativities and obscurations o yoursel and o all other sentient beings. (s in the practice o

?taking and giving @tonglenA, give the merit you have accumulated to all the other sentient

beings, especially the narak beings. 2ive all the good results, up to enlightenment, to

everyone else# this becomes the cause or them to actuali$e the path and achieve

enlightenment."or the second circumambulation think o the suerings o the preta beings, and do the

circumambulation or them. 9oing your practice or others in this way means it is unstained

by sel-cherishing thought.

'ilarepa said, /3hile *m walking, * meditate. * have received the instructions which

make my walking the practice o circumambulation.0 2enerally, even when walking along a

road or travelling in a car, make it beneicial by thinking that you are circumambulating.

1emember that there are many holy objects in all directions. !r think that you are

circumambulating the whole world, in which there are many holy objects. * you think in this

way, your action becomes virtuous and you accumulate inconceivable merit.

3hile circumambulating, you can also practise rejoicing in your own merits o the three

times and those o all other sentient beings, bodhisattvas and Buddhas. )ing Sengyal asked

=agarjuna, /* am so busy that * cannot study, meditate or do retreat. lease instruct me insome 9harma practice that * can do.0 =agarjuna then e&plained three practices: the

motivation o bodhicitta, the practice o rejoicing and dedication. =agarjuna advised the king,

/ractise rejoicing again and again while you are eating, while you are working.0 8ven

though the king could not stop his work in order to do practices with his body and speech, he

could practise rejoicing while he was working and thus accumulate ininite merit. =agarjunas

instruction to the king is something to keep in mind when we have many engagements and

cannot stop our work in order to perorm particular practices.

The limb o rejoicing is always there in the seven-limb practice when we do sadhanas,

ama Choepa or ama Tsongkhapa 2uru ;oga. But whether we recite sadhanas or not, as

=agarjuna advised the king, while we are working in the oice, eating, driving a car or

whatever, we can practise rejoicing. Think how ortunate you are to be able to accumulate

merit, think o all your past, present and uture merit. By rejoicing about your own merit, youcreate even more.


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Then especially rejoice about bodhisattvas merits. *n that second you rejoice about the

merit a bodhisattva accumulates in one day, you accumulate hal o that bodhisattvas merit.

2enerally, i you rejoice about the merit o a person whose level o mind is higher than yours,

you accumulate hal o that amount o merit# with a person whose level o mind is lower than

yours, you accumulate more merit than that person. (nd then rejoice about the Buddhas

merits. ;ou accumulate ininite merit in that one second o rejoicing.

;ou can rejoice about all the merits o the three times o all the people in Tibet who make

oerings to and create good karma in relation to sentient beings and holy objects. Then

rejoice about all the merits o the three times o the Sangha and lay people in 9haramsala.

Think how wonderul it is that they are accumulating merit. Then think o all those in *ndia

who accumulate merit, and o all those in =epal and in all other Buddhist countries. Thinking

how wonderul it is that each one o these people has accumulated merit is a clever way or

you to accumulate merit.

Sometimes when you circumambulate meditate on emptiness. (s with walking meditation,

practise awareness o dependent arising. uestion yoursel, /3hat am * doing47* am

circumambulating. 3hy am * circumambulating478&cept or the act that the body is

circumambulating, there is no reason at all that * am circumambulating.0 *t is very good to

apply this reasoning. 3hen you do this, there is suddenly some change in the concrete,independent *. Suddenly it is not so solid, not so real. *t is not that the * does not e&ist, but

there is a big change in your perception o it. )eep in mind that there is no other reason that

you are circumambulating apart rom this e&perience o the aggregates circumambulating. *n

the heart there is a eeling o *, but this * is not real in the sense o being independent and

e&istent rom its own side. 3ith this awareness o dependent arising, circumambulate. !r,

according to what is needed to develop your mind, meditate on bodhicitta or other lam-rim

subjects.

Prostrations

By doing prostrations, you receive the %ualities o the holy body, holy speech and holy mind

o Buddha, and puriy obscurations. ;ou should have a 3estern business approach to any9harma practice: trying to get the most proit in the shortest time.

Simply putting your hands together at the heart is a prostration. (s e&plained in the sutras,

making this simple prostration to a holy object has eight beneits:

6A *n uture lives you will receive a good body with perect shape, organs and senses.


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other holy objects, Buddha allows us to accumulate merit. Some sentient beings can see these

transormations o the Buddha, some cannot. *n Tibet there have been people who have not

been able to see the 2uru Shakyamuni Buddha statue in the okhang temple. To them, the

temple was completely dark# they couldnt see anything. !ne person with this problem, ater

doing much puriication, could see the light o the butter-lamps, but still could not see the

statue. (nother person saw big piles o dried meat on the thrones instead o the statues. *t does

not necessarily ollow that everybody can see the statues just because the statues are there. *t

has to do with the level o the mind.

The teachings say that animals cannot see holy objects. (t )opan * lit the dogs up to try

to get them to look at the thangkas, but * eel they dont see the same thing we see. *t may be

very rare or an animal to be able to see a statue# the te&ts say they dont see them at all. That

we have the karma to see holy objects is unbelievable, and gives us an incredible opportunity

to accumulate merit. 5se all the holy objects you can see7all the pictures o deities in your

room7to accumulate merit. They e&ist or that reason.

+aving the karma to see holy objects such as statues and stupas is e&tremely ortunate

because those who have the karma to see these transormations can accumulate much merit.

Think o all the stupas, temples and statues in Bodhgaya. +undreds and hundreds o *ndians

come to Bodhgaya rom all over the country to oer a ew coins to Buddha. 8ven thoughtheir oering is small, because o the power o the holy object o Buddha, all these actions o

oering become the cause o enlightenment. This is one o Buddhas many skillul ways o

guiding suering sentient beings according to their karma.

(nother ten beneits o prostrations are mentioned:

6A ;ou will achieve a perect golden body like 2uru Shakyamuni Buddha.


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that one has to accumulate inconceivable merit to be born even once as a wheel-turning king.

*ts not that the only result o doing prostrations is to be born again and again as a wheel-

turning king# Buddha mentions the wheel-turning king to give some idea o the inconceivable

merit accumulated by doing one prostration.

There is an uncountable number o atoms rom here down to the other side o the earth,

and one prostration creates the cause or this number o rebirths as a wheel-turning king. +is

+oliness Serkong 1inpoche said that +is +oliness the 9alai ama is a wheel-turning king.

+owever, *m not sure i all wheel-turning kings are bodhisattvas. 3ith the power and wealth

o a wheel-turning king, one can beneit others immensely by engaging in many 9harma

activities.

The merit we accumulate by doing one prostration is beyond our conception. The result7

all the temporal happiness up to enlightenment7is beyond the grasp o our mind. 1emember

that karma is e&pandable. "rom a small virtuous action, one can e&perience many results o

happiness or many hundreds o lietimes. *n the same way, because karma is e&pandable,

rom even a small non-virtuous action, one can e&perience many dierent suering results in

one lie, and or many lietimes. * we cannot comprehend the cause, there is no way that we

can comprehend the result.

Since there is a dierence in merit between doing prostrations on a bed and on the loor, itseems there would be much more merit in doing prostrations on the highest possible

mountain. erhaps we should strap a prostration board to the roo o our car and head or

'ount 8verest....

The second important point is to remember to see the holy object, whether it is a stupa or a

statue, as the 2uru. 9o not miss this point. * there is an altar in your house, think that all the

pictures o Buddhas on your altar are the 2uru. Because the 2uru is the highest, most

powerul object, the most merit comes rom prostrating to the 2uru. 8very time we make

oerings, every time we prostrate, this is the essential thing to remember. 3ith this awareness

your action is the most proitable, accumulating the most e&tensive merit. The 2uru, all the

Buddhas and bodhisattvas, all the holy objects, are there on your altar. Thinking that your

altar holds the essence o all the holy objects o the ten directions, prostrate. Then prostrate to

all the holy beings, all the Buddhas and bodhisattvas, o all ten directions. rostrate to all theholy objects7statues, stupas, scriptures7in Tibet, *ndia, =epal. This creates more merit and

is doing prostrations wisely.

3hen doing prostrations, as with circumambulations, ater each prostration dedicate the

merit or all sentient beings, especially the narak beings, then the preta beings, animal beings

and so orth.

Sometimes combine the prostrations with meditation on 2uru devotion, thinking o the

2uru as Buddha. !r sometimes think o the kindness o sentient beings, and o how much

they are suering. *n this way, prostrations become your lam-rim meditation, and inspire you

to practise more and more. !therwise, ater some time as you become more and more

e&hausted, you may eel discouraged and think, /3hat am * doing here4 (m * wasting my

time40

=o matter what vow is broken7tantric root vow, bodhisattva or pratimoksha vow7nomatter what negative karma is created, everything can be puriied. !ut o kindness, Buddha

revealed dierent puriication methods such as reciting the names o the Thirty-ive Buddhas.

1eciting the name o each o these Buddhas one time puriies many aeons o negative karma.

8ach Buddha, a maniestation o Shakyamuni Buddha, puriies a particular negative

karma. 3hen each o the Thirty-ive Buddhas generated bodhicitta while ollowing the path,

he motivated to beneit sentient beings by puriying particular negative karmas. 1eciting the

name o the last Buddha puriies negative karma in relation to the 2uru. (nother o the

Thirty-ive Buddhas puriies wrong rejoicing. 3rong rejoicing is eeling happy when

someone harms your enemy or a person you dont like, or your enemy gets into trouble or has

something bad happen to him. *t is also wrong to rejoice when other beings create negative

karma.

9epending on what it is you rejoice about, wrong rejoicing can be very heavy negative

karma. "or e&ample, one million Chinese might be killed and, out o hatred, you eel happy

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and rejoice. 8ven though you were not involved in the ighting, even though you were in your

shrine room, while you were sitting there on your meditation cushion, you created very heavy

negative karma. By practising wrong rejoicing, you created the heavy karma o having killed

one million people. 8ven though you did not actually hold a gun, you created that heavy

negative karma while sitting on your meditation cushion. * you havent received many

teachings and dont know about the dierent non-virtuous actions, you are in danger o

creating very heavy karma.

;ou do not hear o ama Tsongkhapa doing many prostrations to >ajrasattva, but his lie

story talks very much o his practice o prostrations to the Thirty-ive Buddhas. ama

Tsongkhapa did many, many prostrations to the Thirty-ive Buddhas. 8ach day beore going

to bed ama Tsongkhapa recited the prayer, The Conession o 9ownalls, thirty-ive times.

This practice makes the mind very comortable. *n a lam-rim teaching, )achen ;eshe

2yaltsen says that a gelong can remain a very pure gelong by practising in this way.

* wrote to 9enma ocho 1inpoche asking him why ama Tsongkhapa practised

prostrations to the Thirty-ive Buddhas rather than to >ajrasattva. 1inpoche answered that by

reciting The Conession o 9ownalls once, well7which means with the remedy o the our

powers and meditating on the meaning o the prayer7even the ive uninterrupted negative

karmas can be puriied.These ive heavy karmas7killing ones ather, ones mother, or an arhat, causing blood to

low rom a Buddha, and causing disunity among the Sangha7are called uninterrupted

because immediately ater death they result in rebirth in the naraks. 3ith other karmas one

may not necessarily go immediately to the naraks# there may be an interruption, with the

e&perience o the result o another karma beore e&periencing the result o that particular

negative karma. But with these ive heaviest karmas, straight ater death one has to

e&perience rebirth in the naraks. These are not just heavy negative karmas, but uninterrupted

negative karmas. ?5ninterrupted has meaning.

+owever, even these uninterrupted negative karmas can be puriied by doing one time the

practice o The Conession o 9ownalls. This is the special reason that ama Tsongkhapa did

this practice. 8ven i we cannot do prostrations, even reciting the name o each Buddha thirty-

ive times daily as ama Tsongkhapa did is very good.3hile doing prostrations to the Thirty-ive Buddhas, instead o saying the name very

slowly, it is more proitable to recite the name as many times as possible while doing the

prostration to that particular Buddha. 9uring that one prostration, so many aeons o negative

karma are puriied. * there is some special reason7or e&ample, so that a group o people

can repeat the names together7you can say the names slowly# otherwise, say them %uickly.

=o matter how much heavy negative karma we have accumulated, Buddha has revealed

methods to puriy it. Through the kindness o Buddha, we have these opportunities to practise

puriication. Buddha is more to us than a ather. ( child trusts his ather with his lie:

whatever suering or happiness happens, a childs whole lie is in the hands o his ather# he

relies totally upon his ather. Buddha is the one we can trust with our whole lie. Buddha

reveals the methods to eliminate all our problems7our suering, the true cause o suering,

the two obscurations7and leads us to temporary and ultimate happiness. Buddha guides usrom happiness to happiness, up to the peerless happiness o ull enlightenment. "or sentient

beings, Buddha is the only reuge.

Offering flowers

!ering lowers has ten beneits. !ering incense also has ten beneits, which are similar to

the beneits o oering lowers:

6A ;ou become glorious as a lower, with a very beautiul body.


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EA The scent o pure morality spreads in all directions. @*t is %uite common or great

practitioners who live very purely in their vows to have a sweet odour.A

FA ;ou become the guide o other people in the world.

GA ;ou receive beautiul objects.

HA ;ou receive great enjoyments.

IA ;ou will be born in the higher realms, as a deva or human being.

6JA ;ou will %uickly achieve enlightenment.

Offering light

There are also ten beneits o oering light:

6A *n the world, you will become a light or other sentient beings, dispelling their inner

darkness o ignorance and other delusions.

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Practices You Can Do at the Stupa